Picking Leaders

    Oftentimes in digital work there is a need for collaboration among people to design something fantastic. This team of people will oftentimes get lost in the work unless they are lead by a good leader. Leadership is something that I have read a lot on over the years, in the various roles I have held including being a Pastor.  In the book “Virtual PLCs at Work “ Paul C. Farmer and Dennis King address the need for good leadership when  creating Professional learning Communities.  LEadership is also an important part of education. In fact research shows that local education leadership is really the most effective way to bring change to the education system (Mumby, 3)These leaders need to have certain characteristics, clear purpose, and capability of inspiring commitment to the community. 

Characteristics

It is mentioned that a person should look at a few characteristics when choosing a leader. Some of these characteristics are authority, credibility, expertise, and abilities. At the heart of these characteristics is that a leader has to have something that makes others follow them. I always tell people that being a leader as a pastor is harder than being a leader anywhere else, because there is nothing about the position that can dictate a person's life. I don’t have authority to fire church members nor can I withhold a paycheck from members. However the characteristics that allow me to do an effective job are in my credibility (the life I live) and expertise (The Bible I know).  It is important that when developing any type of team that the leader has some set of characteristics that set him apart as a leader of the group.

Clear Purpose

The second thing that a leader needs is a clear purpose. Organization and committee fail when they lose touch with what their purpose is. People can be working late hours and they can be fully committed to improvement but if they don’t have an understanding of their purpose then they are doomed to fail. Organizations that are led by visionary leaders empower their members to take ownership and be more committed (Kilag et al, 6). Sometimes those with the best intention can get off track without a vision. It is important that leaders are able to keep the members focused on what really matters. 

Commitment

In the book “Virtual PLC’s at work,” Paul Farmer and Dennis Ling write about compliance vs. commitment. Oftentimes it is easy for the members of a team to be inspired by compliance. They perform only to the standard that they are expected to. They do what the boss says to keep their position. However, our schools need to be filled with people that have a deep seeded commitment to the purpose of education. Leaders need to be able to inspire people to perform not out of compliance but out of commitment to the purpose and goal of the organization. One way to do that is to make sure that members of the organization and stakeholders are involved in the decision making process. This helps move members from just compliant to being committed (Kilag et al, 7) Leaders who are able to move people from compliance to commitment  can ensure that the task continues long after they leave.

Conclusion

It is important to pick good leaders when creating organizations, committees and communities. Picking leaders can sometimes be a tricky task, but they are certain characteristics that set individuals apart. It is important that those choosing leaders pick candidates that are able to lead and inspire others to contribute.

References

Farmer, P.C., & King, D. (2022).Virtual PLCs at work: A guide to effectively implementing 

online and hybrid teaching and learning.Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree

Munby, S. (2020). The development of school leadership practices for 21st century schools. European Journal of Education, 55(2), 146-150.

Kilag, O. K., Tokong, C., Enriquez, B., Deiparine, J., Purisima, R., & Zamora, M. (2023). School Leaders: The Extent of Management Empowerment and Its Impact on Teacher and School Effectiveness. Excellencia: International Multi-Disciplinary Journal of Education (2994-9521), 1(1), 127-140. https://multijournals.org/index.php/excellencia-imje/article/view/13

Social Media and Critical Thinking Skills

Social Media is an important part of most Americans' everyday lives. After reading about what Social Media is and is not. I think that my dealings with Social Media began back in 1995. That sounds a little early for what we traditionally think of Social Media. However, my early days of dialup internet took place on AOL. AOL was my Internet Service Provider (ISP). AOL was unique at the time because when you signed on you were given a simple interface that allowed you to email, message, chat, or search the web on the start page. As soon as you logged on, It would say “You Got Mail”. You could click a few buttons and then you would be able to interact live with hundreds of people on chat rooms. In fact, thinking about it now, it seems more advanced, in a way, than what we do online today. AOL introduced Instant messaging in 1997 which is still a major part of most traditional Social Media apps. (Streets, 2024) AOL was definitely ahead of their time. I think that their system was more user friendly than most around today. 

Over the years, I have used several different forms of Social Media. Probably the three most used by me are Youtube, Myspace (20 yrs ago) and Facebook.I am like many people across the United States, over 50% of people have Facebook. (Lawrence, 53)Traditional forms of Social Media are banned at my school. The sites are blocked from the Chromebooks and phones are not even allowed to be seen in the school except for in the office. We do use alot alot of forms of technology in class. One in particular that I used a lot when teaching History last year was Kialo. Kialo is an online debate platform that allows users to post debate questions and then post theses for those questions. Then other users can interact with the Question or the thesis. They also can vote on which comments are more compelling. 

In the screenshot above you will notice that one student has made a thesis (We SHould Allow All Immigrants into the USA.) to the Question (at the Top). The Thesis is then commented on by several users. Students (7th grade) were required in my class to make so many comments, and at least two comments should have a link to where the information was received. Now as you see that students also rated the arguments that were compelling (the bar above each comment). This was the part that usually was frustrating, because the comments that had evidence rarely were rated for being compelling and other emotional responses were rated high. This debate would last for a week and then everybody would be required to write an essay about what their opinions were about the topic. This site isn’t a traditional Social Media site. However, students do socially interact on it, so therefore I think it would be considered Social Media in a way. 

In using Kialo, my goal was very similar to the “Think, Write, Argue, Create” framework that Dan Lawrence writes about in his book (Lawrence, 36 ). Online debates help students develop critical thinking and become better at putting thought in writing. It also encourages students to interact with different ideas that they may not be familiar with. It is great to see students think through ideas that they have not been exposed to.  I have included a video above that explains how one can use Kialo in their classroom. 

Social Media has changed and is continuing to change the world that we leave in. Our students continue to use Social Media at an alarming rate. As an educator is important that we stay up to date with all the trends and look for to incorporate them in the classroom.

References

Lawrence, Dale. (2022). Digital writing: A guide to writing for social media and the web. Ontario, Canada: Broadview Press

Streets, M. (2024) The history and evolution of social media explained. Techtarget.https://www.techtarget.com/WhatIs/feature/The-history-and-evolution-of-social-media-explained

Washburn, B. (2024) Cultivate critical thinking with online debate platforms. Technology Teaching Resources. chttps://brittanywashburn.com/2024/03/cultivate-critical-thinking-with-online-debate-platforms/